How to sell shetloads of records in three simple steps: (1) Go to war (Street cred is essential) (2) Write sappy songs about an ex-girlfriend that you've lost (For guidance, check any Westlife song) (3) Strip naked while crying your hearts out in the middle of the rain for your first video (This is where those military-trained pecs and abs will come to use)

I don't usually check the Billboard Hot 100 Singles anymore other than just to find out who's number one. And even that is not very interesting anymore since the chart seems to be as dynamic as the Japanese Tea Ceremony. But today, when I took a quick check while expecting Beyoncé's not-quite-as-catchy-as-Dangerously-in-Love single to hold on to the top spot, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. James Blunt is actually at the top spot with two millions singles sold. That intrigued me to check the rest of the top 10 and there were even more surprises. Jamaican Sean Paul is at the third spot with his new single "Temperature," fellow Brit Natasha Bedingfield is at numéro ocho as she sells a million pieces of "Unwritten," and the most unbelievable surprise of them all is Cascada's "Everytime We Touch" at the last spot. I think I'm not the only one caught by surprise since the Billboard website itself doesn't have the single cover to go with the entry. Well, well, if this is the way things are going, yay for the American music industry!

Of course the rest of the chart are filled with the usuals, Beyoncé, Chris Brown, and Mary J Blige plus some more R&B crooners. But still... 2 Brit popsters, a Jamaican dancehaller, and a German trance group in the top 10? What next? A non-English song? Well, Macarena did happen...